The Rest Is Money 232. How British AI is inventing new materials
20 snips
Dec 8, 2025 Dr. Chad Edwards, a chemist and deep-tech entrepreneur, co-founded Cusp AI to leverage artificial intelligence in material design for clean energy and water purification. He reveals how AI enables ‘materials on demand’ and discusses collaborations with major companies like Hyundai. Chad also dives into the unique challenges of UK startups securing funding abroad and highlights the importance of real-world lab partnerships. Exploring the future, he reflects on AI's transformative potential and the need for safeguards in this rapidly evolving field.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Materials On Demand Revolution
- Cusp AI uses generative AI to move materials discovery from slow lab work to "materials on demand."
- Chad Edwards says this shift could be one of the biggest impacts of AI on the physical world.
AI Generates Candidates, Simulates Reality
- Cusp's engine acts like a search/generative system that outputs candidate materials from property prompts.
- Edwards stresses you cannot judge materials by appearance; you must predict physical properties computationally.
Lab Partnerships Power Validation
- Cusp partners with commercial, academic and government labs to synthesize and test AI-generated materials.
- Edwards describes an iterative loop where experiments feed data back into models to improve them.